by Jacob Whaler
As if in slow motion, a circular wave ripples out from the center of each dome in the complex. As it moves, the dome walls collapse into fine black sand, raining to the ground in a mist, leaving the thousands of former inhabitants unprotected in the open air.
Not a single structure is left standing.
“I’ve finally given you what you want, Qaara.” Mercer lifts an eyebrow. “Everyone equal. No winners. All losers. Now die together. In peace.”
The holo goes black.
The transport executes a quick turn, right wing dipping low, and speeds off to the north.
Silence hangs over the open field. Jed’s mouth drops open. Alice shakes her head.
“Now what?” Ricky says.
Qaara drops to one knee and takes Luca by the hand. “I need your help.” She points up through the rain at the receding transport, growing smaller every second. “The man who just spoke to me is in that ship. Can you find his mind?”
Luca nods and narrows her eyes with concentration.
Easy. I have him. What do you want me to do?
“Can you—” Qaara stops short of saying the next two words, but they linger in her mind. Kill him.
Luca looks up, utter surprise reflected in her eyes.
Please. Don’t make me do that.
“No, I didn’t mean it.” Qaara touches her lips to Luca’s forehead. "You’re right. Forgive me.” She stares at the faint outline of the transport. “Where's he going?”
To another dome. A small one. Hidden. Just for him and a few other people. To wait for us to die.
“Can you make him fly the transport back here?” Qaara asks.
“I don’t know how to fly.”
Qaara smiles. “Mercer does. Just get him back here. Alive.”
76
CHILD’S VOICE
From the pilot’s chair, Mercer surveys the wreckage.
It’s a shame about the complex of domes. Years of work wasted on the design, building and construction of the perfect doomsday shelter.
His new world.
But now, thanks to Qaara, it’s a total loss.
All he has now is a tight group of men and women that will survive through the years on the food stored in his smaller emergency shelter. The world they rebuild will be different from what Mercer had hoped for, but one thing will be the same.
It will still be his world.
The small shelter is a few miles away now, hidden behind a low rise of hills.
He taps the com unit and puts the transport on auto. The onboard AI will pilot it to the landing pad. Closing his eyes, he leans back in the pilot’s chair, ignoring the quiet chatter of the men and women from his security team in the cargo area, each of them selected for their genetic perfection.
Come back.
A child’s voice.
The sound prompts a gentle memory of a friend he knew when he was barely a teenager. A girl from the Fringe he met in a bookstore. They used to read together in a park in the City until his father discovered where he was going on summer afternoons.
Come back.
Strange. As he listens to the voice, it now reminds him of another girl. The one he saw with Qaara back in his apartment. The one who somehow knew the code to open up his personal Mesh access point.
Come back.
A sudden need for sleep descends on him, making his head heavy. Quietly, without protest, his hand reaches for the com and takes the ship off auto. Fingers slip comfortably onto the stick, and he turns it sharply to the left, banking and heading back to the domes. Where everything was destroyed.
“Where are we going, sir?”
One of the security guards approaches from behind.
“Going?” Mercer’s eyes flip open. “What do you mean?"
“We seem to be heading back to the dome complex.” More security personnel gather behind. “Did you forget something?”
Mercer glances outside the window. “Must be a problem with the AI. I’ll reset it.” He reaches out to the com and feels it respond as he engages the auto.
Come back.
The voice again. Eyelids heavy, he feels the presence of someone standing over his shoulder. He must be dreaming. It’s the girl, the one with Qaara. The one who knew.
Clouds close in on his vision. His hand moves, fingers finding and grasping. Pulling to the left. Everything comfortable. So restful.
Please don’t stop.
And then darkness as a child’s voice sings in the background.
77
CHRYSANTHEMUMS
Luca kneels in the mud, rain running down her back in trickles.
“It’s coming back!” Jedd points to the north. “Fast."
Qaara pats Luca on the head. “Good girl.”
I don’t know how to land it! Luca screams, her voice exploding in all the minds close by. I’m inside his head. What do I do?
Ricky places his hand on her shoulder. “Maybe I can help. I’ve flown a couple of simulators on the Mesh. Tell me what you see.”
Luca’s eyes move under closed lids.
I’m looking out a window. Thousands of people in the field below. I’m sitting in a chair.
“What about your hands?”
I’m holding a black stick with a handle. It’s pressed forward all the way. People are standing behind me. Screaming at me. Telling me to wake up.
“No problem. Ignore the people. You’re doing great.” Ricky squeezes her shoulder. “Pull the stick back, just a little.”
Luca looks down, sees the stick in Mercer’s hand and brings the stick toward her.”
Thump, thump, thump.
“Good job. The ship has built-in stabilizers that keep it from going crazy. You’re right on course. Let’s start to bring it down." He kneels behind Luca, a hand on her shoulder. “Just feel my hand and do what I’m doing.”
The people are trying to pull me out of the chair!
Luca wheezes for breath.
Ricky pushes down on her shoulders. “Let’s bring it to ground.”
Luca does the same, pushing down on the stick, gripping it tighter.
The ship is close now, the sound deafening, her chest vibrating in unison with the rotors.
Inside the ship, people reach around Mercer, grab his arm and pull his hands off the stick. She feels his fingers slowly lose their grip. The people drag Mercer’s body from the chair.
My hands came off the stick!
Ricky’s fingers slip from her shoulder. “OK, Luca. You’re good. Just let go and the ship will fall. Auto safety will kick in before it hits the ground.”
Her eyes flip open in time to see the ship plummet.
Screams rise from the crowd.
Thirty feet from the ground, a massive burst of air breaks from the ship’s underbelly, lifting people and pods off the ground and throwing them back.
The instant the ship makes contact with the field, it flattens out like a ball of soft rubber. A ripple runs up its sides to the roof and out the rotors. The outer shell explodes into fragments of dust that bloom and settle to the ground like white chrysanthemums.
All that remains is a box skeleton, fifty meters from Luca.
Ten soldiers in full combat gear emerge from the wreckage, eyes wide, scanning the field. They stare at the ship over their shoulders.
Mercer stands, one hand resting on a black metal strut.
Eyes on the ground, he staggers through the wreckage, past the soldiers, into the open field. Dropping to his hands and knees, his palms sink into the mud past his wrists. Great sobs rack his body. He turns his face up to the sky, arms outstretched, and wails.
And then he stands. Wipes his eyes.
Walking to the guard nearest him, Mercer strips the pulse rifle from his hands.
“Where’s the girl?” he yells.
He notices Luca in the crowd.
78
POP
Mercer looks behind him.
The first pods burst on the hillside above the field. Acid explodes in gre
at arcs. As it eats and dissolves vegetation and rocks alike, a curtain of mist rises.
And begins to flow downhill, moving closer.
The masses panic and flee from the field below the hills.
As if in response, the low hanging mist flows in a great arc around the wheel of fallen domes until the crowd is encircled. Men and women stumble and fall over each other as they try to move away from the pods that litter the ground on the field.
Mercer raises his rifle. Pulse projectiles rip away from its tip. The sound of gunfire stills the screaming crowd.
“Don’t worry. You’re all going to die! And there’s nothing you can do about it.” Mercer walks away from the smoldering wreck of the ship, his eyes still focused on the girl. He pushes the masses back as he waves the rifle, scanning faces in the crowd.
Standing twenty meters away in the pouring rain, Qaara has the girl on one side and the man, Jedd, on the other.
The girl. The one who knew the code. The one who came into his mind. The one who brought him here. A freak of nature. A natural telepath. Fukushima. It all makes sense now.
The plan had been so simple.
A perfect plan the former inhabitants of Earth had devised without the time to execute. Mercer had the time. He had everything.
And then Qaara destroyed it all.
Mercer searches the field.
The fog of acid moves down the hill as the pods explode one after another. Only seconds or, at best, minutes remain. People run, cry, scream. Then, they press closer together, keeping their distance from Mercer.
Searching his memory, Mercer recalls that the decrypted materials from the chip had described another curious phenomenon.
There had been rudimentary telepaths among the civilization that the Cloud destroyed over three billion years ago. In desperation to save themselves, some of them had made mental contact with the Cloud.
They discovered it was an entity. Alive. Hungry. Searching.
The old text from the chip was clear. Find a way to speak to the Cloud. Establish communication. Maybe it would listen. Maybe it could be stopped.
Maybe there’s still time.
Keeping the tip of the pulse rifle pointing at Qaara, Mercer runs forward. A space opens in the crowd between him and Luca.
The telepathic girl. The one last hope.
He stops five meters away, staring directly at Qaara.
“Give her to me.”
“Why?” Qaara says. “We’re all going to die anyway."
Mercer stares, eyes open, unblinking. “You know, don’t you?”
“Know what?”
“The girl is special. She can get in people’s minds. Control them. She brought me here.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you so intent on destroying all that I’ve worked so hard to build?” Mercer drops the tip of the pulse rifle. "So I can die with the rest of you?”
Qaara shakes her head. “You were the one who destroyed the domes. I only wanted to let the world know what was happening and let as many survive as possible. You knew years ago that the Cloud was coming. You knew how it would play out. There was time to build more domes, maybe enough to save everyone. You made the choice to watch them die." She opens her arms wide, as if embracing the multitude around them. “There was room for all who gathered here. I tried to save them. You are their murderer.”
“None of that matters.” Mercer lifts the tip of the pulse rifle and points it squarely at Qaara. “If I can’t save the world on my terms, then I’ll watch it burn.” He eyes the rifle. “At least I’ll be able to kill myself before the killer molecule takes me.”
The sea of mist moves closer as the pods explode and spew acid. The hills melt away before their eyes.
“It’s not over yet.” Jedd looks at Qaara. “Luca might still be able to make contact with the Cloud. Isn’t that right, Luca?”
Luca stares back at Mercer.
Bursting out laughing, Mercer can hardly believe it’s true. “Your name is Luca? How ironic.”
He hears her words in his mind.
The Cloud is alive. I’m trying to make it listen to me.
The realization hits Mercer. This girl is precious. The last weapon he can wield against the Cloud and everyone else.
“Yes, I know, Luca.” Mercer takes a step forward. “And I want you to succeed. You are special. You can do things no one else can. I want you to talk to the Cloud. To find out what it’s looking for.” He scans the crowd. “Maybe we can tell it who to save. Save all your friends, all the good people in the world. Wouldn't that be wonderful, Luca? We can clean up the world. You and I. Make it the way it should be. The way you want it to be. Come to me, Luca. Let’s work together. I’ll give you anything you want."
Luca does not move.
Remembering what he read about the Fukushima orphans, Mercer drops to his knees and lays the pulse rifle in the mud. A smile lights up his face.
“I know you’re lonely, Luca. Has it been a long time since you saw your mother and father? I’m sure they loved you. I’m sure they wanted you to be happy.”
Luca takes a step forward.
They did love me. We were happy. It was so hard on Mother when Father died. She wasn’t the same. It wasn’t her fault she couldn’t take care of me anymore.
Suppressing his surprise, Mercer feels the words in his mind. Like soft kitten paws.
“And you want to see your mother again, don’t you Luca?”
Yes! Do you know where she is?
“We could find her. Search the world for her. You could be together again. Happy again.”
Luca runs forward through the rain, stopping an arm’s length from Mercer.
“We’ll find your mother together. I’ll buy her a house and food. I’ll take care of both of you. She’ll be so happy to see you.” He reaches for Luca with one hand and the pulse rifle with the other.
Smile disappearing, Luca jumps back.
You’re lying, aren’t you?
“No, Luca, I would never lie to you.”
But I can see it in your mind. You want to grab me, point the gun at me and make me and my friends do what you want.
“I’m giving you the chance to have whatever you want. Don’t throw it all away, Luca.” Mercer’s fingers curl around the rifle. He lifts it from the mud.
I’m not going to leave my friends.
Her eyes on Mercer, Luca takes a step back.
“I can see your devotion. You need some motivation. Maybe this will help.”
He points the gun at Jedd and pulls the trigger.
As his hand clutches his chest, Jedd drops to the ground.
“It’s not good to have friends, Luca. They only hold you back. I’m going to keep shooting them until you help me.” He trains the gun on Qaara and taps the trigger.
There’s a pop, and she goes down.
79
EFFORTLESS
Screams rise from the edge of the crowd as the mist draws close.
I’ll come to you. Please stop shooting them.
Luca walks through the rain toward Mercer.
“That’s a good girl.” Mercer points his gun at her forehead. “Now kneel down here, facing me. Close your eyes. Connect to the Cloud. Tell it to back off from us. You and I. Tell it to leave us alone.”
She drops to her knees, sinking into the mud, still feeling the familiar contours of the minds of Jedd and Qaara as their lives drain away.
Eyelids closing, she enters the world of voices, an ocean of fear. Millions cry out for help. With effort, she draws her mind through multiple layers of panic and chaos.
Down to the lowest level where she finds the Voice and sends out a message.
I’m Luca.
It’s different now. The Voice moves with purpose, a goal, like her father’s machine that harvested rice in the fall. The acid grinds and chews through tens of thousands of lives every second, cutting them down, snuffing them out, moving on to fresh fields of slaughter.
I can hear yo
u.
The Voice moves over and past her, never stopping in its forward motion, never pausing to take notice.
Please listen to me.
No response.
What are you looking for?
Silence. The Voice has moved on.
Opening her eyes, Luca stares up at Mercer, his gun pressed into her forehead.
It won’t listen to me, she thinks, sending the words into his mind.
“Try again,” Mercer says.
This time, Luca nods and keeps her eyes open. She imagines Rika. Her best friend. The one she killed, the one she had to kill, by going into her Core.
It would be easy with Mercer.
She goes into his mind and finds the Core.
Starting with the outer rim of the crowd, a line of pods bursts. People draw back, some too late. Luca senses the fresh fear in their minds. More chaos and screams.
The Voice is far away.
And then, in that instant, the Voice stops, turns and comes back. As if to watch.
Through the crowd, a thin river of acid shoots toward her and Mercer, like the tongue of a chameleon, unrolling, cutting through anything in its path. In her mind’s eye, she sees it. Feels it.
Somehow, the crowd parts as the stream of acid rushes through.
The Voice hovers, as if over Luca’s shoulder, the massive weight of its presence light as a rose petal.
She stands over the Core in Mercer’s mind, a ribbon of light weaving through her fingers. It would be so easy to pull it apart and end Mercer’s life. Just like with Rika.
No, Luca thinks. Never again.
Letting go of Mercer’s mind, she returns to the Voice, exposing her own Core to it. As the tongue of acid comes closer, her gaze swings past the multitude of people.
Please don’t hurt them. Take me, but please, let them live.
On the distant horizon, a low-frequency moan rises from the hills, radiates into the sky, and ricochets to a point above Luca’s head.
Mercer steps behind her, trying to hide from the acid rushing in their direction.
But the ribbon of acid rears up like a liquid cobra in front of Luca’s face, twists around her and strikes Mercer in the center of his spine. Without a sound, his lips form an O. His arms and legs shoot out into a spread eagle as the acid coats his body. The soft parts, skin, tissue and muscles, go first, flashing into the mist. The last thing Luca sees is the outline of Mercer's skeleton and his blue eyes, like a fleeting afterimage.